Fiskardo – Kefalonia’s protected child

Fiskardo is a pic­turesque Greek har­bour vil­lage on the North­ern tip of Kefalo­nia. The largest and wildest of the seven Ionian islands.

I have spent 2 hours in Fiskardo but it was enough to con­vince me to put it on my agenda and write about it. It is a small vil­lage. But the only one that sur­vived the 1953 Ionian earth­quake. This one will be hard to for­get in the Greek his­tory. In mid August 1953 there were 113 earth­quakes in total and the strongest, with a 7.2 mag­ni­tude, raised up the whole island of Kefalo­nia by 60 cm. Fiskardo escaped undam­aged, as if the Gods were hold­ing it in their hands.

I felt magic walk­ing trough its col­or­ful streets, full col­or­ful tables, and even the sun­set was col­or­ful than usual. The houses, all tiny and not more than 2 stores high smile at the sea in all the col­ors of the uni­verse. It takes one hour to stroll from one end to the other. Its an anti-depres­sive vil­lage. Even the fish­er­men had more col­or­ful nets than else­where. Its impos­si­ble to stay grumpy in Fiskardo. Some­thing will make you smile.

The port is filled with big yachts of the tourists, local fish­er­man boats and actu­ally Fiskardo is a very impor­tant port for touris­tic fer­rys to Lefkada.

I could not imag­ine how the big ferry to Lefkada can fit into this small crowded port. But it did. 45 min­utes later than sched­uled, but it did. When I was ask­ing at the ticket office when it will arrive, the answer was “soon, soon mam”. In Greece, time is so rel­a­tive. And so it should stay.

For me the island of Kefalo­nia was love at first sight. Its exactly how I like it: wild, naked, green, with moun­tains and beaches at eye’s reach, quiet, with many tiny secluded beaches call­ing you to dis­cover them…and Fiskardo was just the last kiss Kefalo­nia gave me. And the best.